Bill O’Reilly - Trump, Political Fanaticism & Agreeing to Disagree | The Daily Show

Please welcome back to the program, Bill O'Reilly. Sir. [CROWD CHEERING] [MUSIC PLAYING] Come on out. Take your time. Thanks for having me. - Take your time. - Appreciate it. - William. - Yes, sir? Our country, we are in such a dangerous moment. You've written books on almost every assassination. You have a whole line of-- The killing books. The killing-- a children's series you write-- about killing presidents. Is the time we're in, in your mind, are we in a unique time in American history of polarization? Or, as you looked back on those other moments of terrible tragedy in our country, are there similarities or differences? Yeah, it's not unique, but the social media and the corporate media heighten everything. So-- JON STEWART: You're saying Lincoln's tweets were not a part of-- He had to, like, get a pigeon and throw them out the window-- Right. Makes sense. Limited. But the assassins all have one thing in common. They're all mentally ill-- all of them. And most of them did their terrible deeds because they were in a rage. And you're going to find out that this guy in Pennsylvania fits both of those categories. That has been in human nature since they-- So do you believe, then, that the political rhetoric-- I mean, John Wilkes Booth was clearly a political actor, no? But he was also mentally ill. Well, John Wilkes Booth was a fanatical conservative and racist who hated Lincoln-- JON STEWART: Good thing that's gone out of the country. Well-- [LAUGHTER] That's what I'm saying. - No, I know. I was saying it, too. I'm saying that's good. We were both saying it simultaneously. No, we're obviously sharing that opinion. - We're simpatico. - Yes, exactly. Exactly. Don't throw Latin into it. I'm sorry. So it's not new. JON STEWART: Right. But we're now in a society where hatred is rewarded. JON STEWART: It's incentivized. It's monetized. That's right. And I'm on-- the hate brigade is now pulling back a little bit because they have to, but they're going to be back in two weeks because they get paid to do this. They're so untalented. JON STEWART: But you and I-- - Wait, whoa. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. I want to make this point, because Stewart and I have a history, all right? We go back. But if you watch, if you Google, all right, Stewart and I-- Ships passing in a night. It's really-- [LAUGHTER] We are able to disagree without hating each other. Now, I truly hate him, but I don't-- [LAUGHTER] I don't show it. - You hold it very well. - I don't put it out. No, absolutely. But now, that's not rewarded-- that kind of detente where two people look at life differently isn't rewarded. The haters get the big money. And so that's what you have. And I think all Americans start to hold the corporations accountable. You can't do anything about the guys in the basement that are chucking this stuff out. And you just had it on-- these conspiratorial nuts-- you can't do anything about that. But you can say to corporations, you better knock this stuff off. You better stop calling people racists, and nazis, and this, and that. Now, your question-- and thank you for letting me take over the show. JON STEWART: Did I have a question? I don't remember. Thank you for letting me run the show. While you were talking, I was watching a different program. I'm watching South Park reruns right now. I don't even know what you're talking about. But this one is better. So listen to me-- I'm going to listen to you, but then I have a follow-up to this, which I think is important. OK. So your question is, then, what can people do about this? All right? Reject it. Don't celebrate it. So this kid, 20 years old in Pennsylvania, we don't know what caused him to do that-- we knew he was a miserable kid who was bullied and all of this stuff. JON STEWART: Right. We all know that. But we don't get into, oh, he's a Republican. That's the first thing they said on The View. The first thing they said on Monday on The View-- he's a Republican. Stop it. That does nobody any good. All right? But, Bill, let me push back a bit. Look, you and I are both somewhat fossilized practitioners of the rhetorical arts that are confrontational at times, provocative at times. And we made a really spectacular living pushing those envelopes. It seems now to say, hey, these other people should stop. Hey, look-- It's like-- it's like-- free speech-- but don't you believe-- let me put it this way. Go ahead, Stewart. We keep saying, like, we don't know why these people do it. They're all mentally ill. But let's stop the rhetoric, even though we have no idea-- wouldn't it be better to come up with people can be passionate? People can defend their position? BILL O'REILLY: Absolutely. And shouldn't we be-- shouldn't the argument be, we have to start arguing with each other in good faith? OK. So Biden made a good point last night in the Lester Holt interview when he said, what am I supposed to do, not criticize Trump because I feel-- He feels it is a threat to our democratic system. Because I feel he's the Third Reich? You know, OK. - You know he didn't say that. No, but he-- [LAUGHTER] He was thinking it, Stewart. He was thinking it. I can read him. - Stop monetizing your anger. - So, anyway-- [CROWD CHEERING] [LAUGHTER] Stop. I don't like it. I don't like it one bit. But he made a point-- Yes. Where I got to criticize the guy because I don't believe he's good for America and I believe he's x, y, and z. OK. Criticism is good. Robust debate is good. I like coming on here in front of all of your friends out here-- and the audience should know, I have no friends here, OK? My friends-- - Well, not just here. Well-- [CROWD CHEERING] [LAUGHTER] I'm giving him that one. - All right. OK. So we have made a nice living-- JON STEWART: Yes. Confronting other people, sometimes-- making fun of them, sometimes serious debate. I'm going to do your podcast tomorrow-- JON STEWART: Correct. And I'm going to kick your butt. JON STEWART: Of course. OK, but we don't want to see them, at least I don't, destroyed. JON STEWART: Right. That's the difference. The fanatics on the left and the right want to see their opposition destroyed. They want to hurt them. But I've heard a lot about, and even from you-- You're not arguing that point, are you? I'm not arguing that point. I think that's a more measured point than you've probably been making and that I've been hearing. - Come on. Most of your points, from what I've been following, is that the left has to take it down a notch. You've mentioned MSNBC. I ran a montage on the No Spin News last night-- it's on BillOReilly.com-- by the way, four million-- By the way, log on, it is hard to get on there. It is. [LAUGHTER] It's not hard for the four million people that watched me over the weekend. - What? Four million? Four million-- wasn't hard for them. Ugh. That's-- that's a lot of cheese. [LAUGHTER] - Thank you. All right. So I ran a montage of haters on the left and the right. JON STEWART: OK. I just-- and I didn't have to go, he's terrible. I just let their words speak for themselves. On the right, and I don't know if you would argue this, there is a feeling that they haven't been doing that and that it is the purview of the left. BILL O'REILLY: OK. There's been a lot of that. People believe what they want to believe. But those of us who are sane and fact-based-- Right. And that might not be you, we know what reality is because we can see and hear it. But we're no longer agreeing. How can we have a conversation about rhetoric if we can't even agree-- if there are delusions of "it's really only them?" I mean, when I watch the guy from the Heritage Foundation say, the revolution will be bloodless, if the left, you know, allows that. Right. And you're just like, what are we doing here? You know, some of the fears of people are justified. Tens of millions of women lost access to reproductive choice based on the decisions of that party. Those are real life consequences of great gravity and weight. [CROWD CHEERING] How do we talk about those in a way that-- so that you're able to express it? It's not difficult to talk about it. And you don't have-- JON STEWART: It seems like it is. See, the mistake that you made, one of the many-- Yeah, understood. You're trying to get the fringe people in to be reasonable. You're never-- The Heritage Foundation lead is not the fringe. And when I watch-- - No, no, no, no. It is. The people don't know what that is. Most Americans-- I put the number at 70%-- are good people, don't want acrimony. They don't want violence. JON STEWART: I don't doubt that. OK? Those are the people you play to, not the fringe people, who are just out there wanting to, as I said, destroy the other party. JON STEWART: Your candidate for-- No, I don't have a candidate. All right? I'm a registered independent. OK. [LAUGHTER] See, that's what this guy did-- No, no, no. I understand. This is what you did. I really need to take a look at this Cornel West fellow. Right. [CROWD CHEERING] [LAUGHTER] If you guys watched the rumble in the air conditioned auditorium, he did the same thing-- - Listen to me now. - With Romney. Listen. - You are fossilized. - Listen to me-- Yes, I'm listening. The candidate who represents many of your kinfolk. [LAUGHTER] - Kinfolk? - He said-- Yeah. The election was stolen and rigged-- Right. JON STEWART: And drove people to this madness on January 6. How are we to deal with that? Truly, you know, what is the hallmark of a democracy? Peaceful transfer of power. That has haunted him-- That put that in jeopardy. That has haunted him every day since. - He's paid a terrible price. - No, he has. [LAUGHTER] Can I explain the price? Of course. He's going to go back to the White House and have to fix the damage himself-- paint that wall. [LAUGHTER] If Trump hadn't done that on January 6, he'd be ahead of Biden by 25 points in the poll. That's how bad Biden has been for the country. Well, I disagree with that, but that's-- Of course you do. But that's OK. - Well, I understand that. - I can back it up. Do you want me to? - OK. I mean-- - I'm going to ruin your day. I'm going to ruin your day, Stewart. You brought a handkerchief? All right. I was prepared for this. Food prices under Biden up 20%, Gas prices 38%, mortgage rates 160%. JON STEWART: Prices have gone up. Drug ODs up 36%, OK? Car insurance 125% up. These are folks. They have to spend that money. JON STEWART: Listen, there's no question that, post-pandemic, this country and the world have suffered. Trump had two years of post-pandemic. Right. But Trump ran an $8 trillion deficit. He spent $1.7 trillion on tax cuts. He deregulated-- Inflation was 1.5% when he walked out the door. But look at it in relation to the world. I respectfully say, yes, inflation was too high, and that hurts American consumers. You want this? So what did Biden do to create that, though? I don't know. And that's what I would ask him-- [LAUGHTER] [CROWD CHEERING] So, basically, you wrote down a piece of paper, but you didn't look up the answer? No. We're going to need two days on the podcast. Wait, wait. I want to ask Biden about that. OK. So you're saying, why would Biden do it? I'm not going to hear and say-- Keep in mind, that was a very poor impression of how I've been saying this. - Right. [MUTTERING] Eh, that's not too bad. OK. All right. So my job as a journalist is to say-- JON STEWART: Oh, when did you get that job? [LAUGHTER] You really make it too easy. We're going to talk tomorrow. We got to go. This is too long. Thank you for being here. Confronting the Presidents comes out September 10, available for pre-order. Bill O'Reilly.